Dryer

ABSTRACT

A nozzle for an air blower of a car wash installation is designed to be adjustable to vary the direction of the air flow delivered by the blower. The blower has a tapered frusto-conical nozzle that is oblique and is rotatably mounted at its base about an outlet of the blower. Upon rotation of the nozzle the direction of the delivered air flow moves in a conical path. Automated controls are provided to direct air flows from blowers in predetermined directions in the dryer section of an automated vehicle wash.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates to a new or improved nozzle for an airblower, to an air blower incorporating such a nozzle, and to a vehiclecar wash installation utilizing such nozzles and air blowers.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Many forms of automated vehicle washing systems have beenproposed and built in recent decades. Known automated car wash systemscan generally be classified into two types, one in which the vehicleonce moved into position remains stationary while the washing and dryingequipment is moved relative to the vehicle, and a second wherein thevehicle is moved by a drive chain along an elongate track, along thelength of the track passing by a succession of stations wherein washing,rinsing, waxing and finally drying operations are performed by automatedequipment.

[0005] While such automated vehicle wash systems are generally efficientin terms of washing the vehicle, their performance in drying the vehicleis not in all cases satisfactory. Some automated car wash installationsemploy operators to apply a final manual wipe down treatment ofautomobiles to avoid spotting of the finish which results from imperfectautomated drying operation.

[0006] Some of the problems with prior art vehicle drying systems arediscussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,739 Johnson which discloses a dryingsystem incorporating oscillating air blowers which are positioned on theupright and cross beam of an arch type frame through which the vehiclepasses.

[0007] Another prior art automated drying system is disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 5,749,161 Jones wherein drying is effected by downwardlydirected oscillating nozzles designed to drive water from the surfacesof the vehicle as the latter passes by the nozzles. However Jonesrequires a somewhat complex and expensive nozzle structure andadjustable drive system therefor to accommodate the required oscillatingmovement.

[0008] It is an object of the invention to provide a simplifiedadjustable nozzle system for an air blower, and one which isparticularly suitable for use in automated drying systems in car washinstallations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The invention accordingly provides an air blower comprising: ahousing enclosing a fan, said housing having inlet and outlet ports forflow of air through said housing upon operation of said fan; a nozzlecarried by said housing to deliver a flow of air therefrom in a givendirection; wherein said nozzle has a base carried on said housing incommunication with and surrounding said outlet port, said nozzle beingrotatable relative to said housing about an axis, said nozzle beingoriented at an acute angle relative to said axis such that rotation ofsaid nozzle about said axis is effective to adjust said given directionthrough a conical path.

[0010] Preferably the nozzle is of hollow tubular form and tapers incross section from the base towards the outlet end, and is mounted onthe blower housing by means of an annular bearing surrounding the outletport. A drive element such as an endless flexible belt looped around themotor driven pulley provides control of rotation of the nozzle. Thenozzle is preferably of tapered frusto-conical shape arranged so thatthe cone axis generally intersects the vehicle path as the latter passesthe dryer installation. By adjusting the angular orientation of thenozzle, the air stream can be made to fall on any desired part of thevehicle that lies within the conical pattern which can be traced out byrotation of the nozzle.

[0011] The air blower is suitable for inclusion in a vehicle car washinstallation dryer section wherein the vehicle to be dried is spanned byan arch frame that carries a plurality of such air blowers positioned sothat the air flow can be directed onto a vehicle that moves relative tosaid frame. The frame may include further blowers in which the directionof air flow delivered is constant. The installation will preferablyinclude a series of sensors to control operation of the blowers andorientation of the nozzles in response to the movement and instantaneouslocation of the vehicle being treated. Thus the nozzles may becontrolled to direct air onto the front portion of the vehicle as itapproaches, changing direction as the sides and top of the vehicle movepast the arch frame, and then orienting towards the rear of the vehicleas it leaves the arch frame. One sensor may be located to be actuated inresponse to passing of a front wheel of the vehicle to direct a flow ofair from one nozzle onto the corresponding rearview wing mirror of thevehicle.

[0012] The invention also provides a vehicle car wash installationincluding a frame having a series of blowers as described abovepositioned at locations on the frame to direct air flow to various partsof vehicles to be dried. In a typical installation the frame is of archshaped and spans a track along which vehicles are dragged by a conveyor.However the invention is equally applicable to dryer installationswherein the vehicle is stationary and an arch frame is movedlongitudinally back and front along the length of the vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The invention will further be described by way of example only,with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0014]FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic isometric view of a drying stationfor an automated car wash installation;

[0015]FIG. 2 is an isometric view to a larger scale showing a blowerunit of the drying station;

[0016]FIG. 3 is an isometric view to a somewhat smaller scale than FIG.2 and showing the opposite side of the lower unit;

[0017]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the blower unit;

[0018]FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the blower unit taken on the lineIV-IV in FIG. 2;

[0019]FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a nozzle portion of theblower of the drying system; and

[0020]FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the control circuitry for the dryingsystem.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0021] As seen in FIG. 1, the drying station comprises an arch-shapedframe 10 which spans a track indicated in broken lines at 12 along whichvehicles (not shown) are advanced in the direction of the arrow 14 in anautomated car wash installation. The arch frame 10 comprises a pair ofupright posts 16 positioned on opposite sides of the track and each witha base plate structure 18 adapted to be secured to a support surface byanchor bolts or the like (not shown). The upper ends of the posts 16 arespanned by a horizontal beam 20 which is rigidly secured thereto, theposts, base plates and horizontal beam being fabricated of any suitablematerial, e.g. steel, or a corrosion resistant metal such as aluminiumor an aluminium alloy.

[0022] The arch frame 10 is adapted to support a number of dryer blowers22 (4 of which are shown in FIG. 1) at various locations above andlaterally of vehicles passing along the track 12.

[0023] Each of the blowers 22 comprises a cylindrical housing 24 whichencloses a fan impeller 26 (FIG. 4) rotatably mounted therein andcarried on the drive shaft 28 of an electric motor 30 which is bolted toa back plate 32 which is releasably attached to the housing 24 byscrews. The motor 30 in turn is carried on a mounting bracket 34 whichis attachable to the arch frame 10 in a series of different locations.Opposite the back plate 32 the fan housing defines a circular inletopening 36 which is covered by an apertured screen plate 38. The screenplate 38 is held in place by bolts 39 passing through aligned holes inan inlet ring 40, the housing 24, and a flange 42 of an inlet cone 44and the screws also engaging into a retaining ring 45 positioned aroundthe inlet 36 in the interior of the housing 24. The inlet cone forms aduct leading to the hollow center of the fan impeller 26. Within thehousing 24 the impeller 26 is coupled to the drive shaft 28 and issurrounded by a peripheral discharge screen 46 that is provided forsafety to prevent accidental contact with the fan impeller 26. Radiallyoutwardly of the discharge screen 46 the housing 24 defines an annularvolute chamber which communicates with a radial outlet duct 48.

[0024] The outlet duct 48 has mounted thereon a discharge nozzle 50,details of which are best shown in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6. With referenceparticularly to FIGS. 5 and 6, the discharge nozzle 50 comprises atruncated hollow oblique nozzle cone 52 having an enlarged annular baseflange 54 which surrounds a bearing ring 56 that is carried in theoutlet duct 48 of the blower housing 24. A seal 47 carried on the ring56 to prevent the escape of air between the base flange 54 and thebearing ring 56. The bearing ring 56 is secured detachably to the outletduct 48 by means of screws (not shown) and includes a central axialtubular hub 58 supported by an array of radial spokes 60. The ring 56also carries an integral rectangular flange 62 which projects radiallyoutwardly through an annular gap between the nozzle flange 54 and theoutlet duct 48 and provides a mounting support for the housing of acontrol mechanism 63 which controls operation of a nozzle adjustmentmotor 64.

[0025] The form of the nozzle cone 52 is most clearly shown in FIG. 5 asbeing of truncated oblique conical form, with a cone axis 66 extendingangularly with respect to the axis 68 of the bearing ring 56 and ofoutlet duct 48. The nozzle cone 52 is supported from a central mountinghub 70 by a series of generally radially projecting angularly spacedrods 72.

[0026] The tubular hub 58 of the bearing ring supported by the spokes 60carries therein a central co-axial bearing bush 80 which rotatablyreceives a spindle 82 attached to the mounting hub 70, opposite ends ofthe hub 58 supporting ball bearings 84 which run between the hub and thespindle 82. The spindle 82 and mounting hub 70 are secured to the hub 58by a retaining ring 86 held in position by a nut 88 which engages athreaded extension 90 of the spindle 82.

[0027] In FIG. 3 (where the blower 22 is shown without the dischargenozzle 50) details of the mounting structure for the blower 22 areevident. The mounting arrangement includes a base plate 49 that isbolted to an integral flange plate 51 on the electric motor housing 30,and the mounting bracket 34 which has bolt holes for attachment to oneof the posts 16 or any other suitable part of the arch frame 10.

[0028] An adjustment mechanism is provided between the base plate 49 andthe mounting plate 34 to enable adjustment of the attitude of the blower22 in a plane perpendicular to the blower housing axis. As seen in FIG.3 the base plate 49 has on one side a rigid tubular socket 53 whichextends parallel to the axis of the motor 30 and which is supported onopposite sides between a pair of angled gusset plates 55 to form a rigidstructure. The mounting bracket 34 has on one side thereof a pair ofspaced parallel projecting ribs 57 which extend longitudinally and eachof which has a chamfered corner presented towards the tubular socket 53.The ribs 57 are spaced apart to cradle the socket 53 therebetween. Aclamping bar 59 extends through and beyond the ends of the tube 53 andin its end portions has holes that are in screw threaded engagement witha pair of cap screws 61 which pass through apertures in the mountingbracket 34.

[0029] From the foregoing it will be appreciated that when the screws 61are tightened to draw the clamping bar 59 towards the bracket 34, thetubular socket 53 will be drawn into contact with the chamfered edges ofthe ribs 57. Thus tightening of the screws 61 is effective to clamp thesocket 53 into rigid engagement with the mounting bracket 34 so that theblower 22 is securely held in fixed relation to the mounting bracket 34and through this to the structural part of the arch frame to which thelatter is attached. It will be recognized that when the cap screws areslackened, the blower 22 can be moved angularly in a plane that isnormal to the axis of the tubular socket 53 (and of the blower itself,this adjustment movement being accommodated by angular movement of thewall of the socket 53 between the clamping bar 59 and the ribs 57. Whena desired position of adjustment is reached the cap screws 61 arere-tightened to securely fix the blower 22 in a selected attitude.Registration marks can be provided on the end of the tubular socket 53at angularly spaced locations to indicate desired positions ofadjustment relative to a datum indicator on the mounting bracket 34.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 2, the motor 64 has a drive pulley 74 projectingtherefrom adapted to be driven by the motor. A flexible drive belt 76 islooped around the drive pulley 74 and the enlarged annular flange 54 ofthe nozzle cone 52. Thus the open base of the nozzle cone 52 is incommunication with the duct 48 and provides a means for directing airflow from the duct 48 to an outlet end 78 of the nozzle, air flowdischarged from the nozzle being directed generally parallel to the coneaxis 66 by virtue of the nozzle configuration.

[0031] From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the nozzle cone 52is rotatable with respect to the outlet duct 48 of the blower 22 undercontrol of the motor 64 which effects angular adjustment in theorientation of the nozzle cone 52 through the drive pulley 74 and thedrive belt 76 in engagement with the nozzle flange 54.

[0032] The nozzle adjustment motor 64 is a stepping motor which actsunder direction from the control electronics to control the speed,direction, and magnitude of the movements of the rotatable nozzle. Thecontrol unit 63 may for example contain a stored program and a group ofstorage elements for retaining control values for a series of movementsof the nozzle 50. When the nozzle is moved to a selected point in itsrange of rotation, it directs the air stream to a desired location onthe vehicle. Furthermore, the nozzle could be arranged to oscillatecontinuously between two selected points, thus sweeping the air streamover a selected area of the vehicle passing by the dryer installation.

[0033] Referring now to FIG. 1 it will be noted that the mountingbrackets 34 can be utilized to position the blowers 22 at many differentlocations vertically with respect to the posts 16, and laterally andlongitudinally in a horizontal plane with respect to the cross member20. The angular orientation of the outlet duct 48 with respect to themounting bracket 34 can be adjusted angularly in a plane normal to theaxis of the motor drive shaft 28, by the above described mechanism shownin FIG. 3.

[0034] In a typical dryer section of a car wash installation, some ofthe blowers will be positioned to direct a flow of drying air at aconstant orientation with respect to a vehicle passing along the track12. In that case the drive motor 64 can be omitted and orientation ofthe nozzle cone 52 with respect to the outlet duct 48 can be setmanually. A drying section provided with blowers 22 as discussed abovelends itself to the application of automatic controls driven by sensorsboth to initiate operation of the blowers and to control the directionof the air streams delivered by the nozzles 52 in accordance withvarious features of the vehicles to be dried.

[0035] The discharge screen 46 surrounding the fan impeller as shownpartially in FIGS. 3 and 4 provides important advantages from thestandpoint of safety. A problem with prior art dryers, especially thosewith housings made of lightweight materials (e.g. rotationally moldedplastic or thin aluminum sheets) concerns the possibility of structuralfailure of the fan. Debris in the form of wax, scale, dust etc., canbuild up unevenly on the fan impeller causing an imbalance in therotating mass. Left uncorrected this imbalance can lead to structuralfailure. When this occured with prior art fans, pieces of the fan couldbe ejected through the housing. Furthermore sharp pieces could bedragged around the inside of the housing cutting a groove in the housingmaterial deep enough to sever the housing, thus allowing escape of otherpieces. To avoid these problems, the discharge screen 46 of the fanshown in the drawings completely surrounds the periphery of the fanimpeller 26 and is formed of a heavy gauge expanded metal such as steel.The discharge screen 46 is securely anchored to the fan housing and hasrelatively large diamond-shaped openings therein. This open meshconstruction of the screen 46 causes minimal restriction of the fanairflow and so does not noticeably decrease the efficiency of theblower. The diamond-shaped holes in the screen act to straighten theairflow and reduce turbulence in it which in turn improves the fanefficiency and allows the nozzle to better control the direction of theairflow. Furthermore reducing turbulence reduces the noise emitted fromthe dryer.

[0036] It will be appreciated that the screen 46 greatly enhances theability of the housing to resist penetration or damage by pieces thrownoff from the fan, and its interrupted form will quickly dull any sharpedges of pieces dragged along it by the impeller, and thus it totallyeliminates the grooving problem described above. It also helps todecrease the noise transmitted through the housing during normaloperation, making the fan quieter.

[0037] Referring to FIG. 7, a schematic diagram of the control circuitfor the blowers of a dryer station installed in an automatic car washsystem is shown. Positioned alongside the track 12 over which thevehicles (not shown) are advanced are a number of sensors which arelocated to respond to the presence of a vehicle or specific partsthereof in proximity to the arch 10 to control operation of the blowers22 in conjunction with a control program incorporated in the controlmechanism 63. These sensors comprise as shown in FIG. 7 a front/rearposition signal sensor 100, a tire signal sensor 102 and a width signalsensor 104. Signals from these three sensors are fed into the nozzlecontrol mechanism 63 along with an AC power supply 106 through a ten pinconnector 108. In response to these signals the nozzle motor is drivento provide the appropriate air flow conditions from the dryer. Thus whenthe sensor 100 is actuated, the dryer nozzles 50 are oriented to directdrying air towards the front or towards the rear of a vehicle asappropriate. The sensor 102 is positioned to be actuated by a frontwheel of the vehicle whereupon one or more of the nozzle motors 64 isactuated to orient the associated nozzle to provide a flow of drying aironto the wing mirror of the vehicle. The nozzle 104 is positioned todetect when a wider than normal vehicle moves along the track 12 and toeffect adjustment of the drying air flows accordingly.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 7 the control mechanism 63 includes a controlpanel 112 which can be actuated e.g. through infrared rays from a remotecontroller 114. Furthermore, the control mechanism 63 of one of theblowers 22 can be coupled to the control mechanism of one or moreadditional blowers through a fibre optic cable 116 so that the blowerscan be coupled to act conjointly. The cable 116 provides a fibre opticlink which can be used to synchronize the direction of motion betweenmultiple nozzles to promote cooperation of the individual air flows (andprevent contradiction) in providing an efficient drying action. Throughthe cable the nozzles can also communicate in series by sending theinput information to each other to eliminate the necessity ofindividually wiring each nozzle to the control panel 112.

[0039] By arraying a number of blowers 22 as described above andillustrated in the drawings adjacent to the vehicle path or track 12,the entire vehicle can be dried as it passes through the arch frame 10.Multiple air streams are swept over the vehicle, and the data suppliedby the sensors is used to synchronize movement of the individual nozzlesso that the air streams from the different nozzles cooperate with oneanother to improve the effectiveness of the drying action.

[0040] An infrared receiver (not shown) within the control unit 63responds to signals from the remote control transmitter 114. The storedprogram in the control unit decodes the signals to respond to inputcommands to program the unit to move the nozzle 50 through apredetermined program. It will be appreciated that in this way the dryerinstallation can be readily adapted to the requirements of differentinstallations.

[0041] It should be understood that while for clarity certain featuresof the invention are described in the context of separate embodiments,these features may also be provided in combination in a singleembodiment. Furthermore, various features of the invention which forbrevity are described in the context of a single embodiment may also beprovided separately or in any suitable sub-combination in otherembodiments.

[0042] Moreover, although particular embodiments of the invention havebeen described and illustrated herein, it will be recognized thatmodifications and variations may readily occur to those skilled in theart, and consequently it is intended that the claims appended hereto beinterpreted to cover all such modifications and equivalents.

1. An air blower comprising: a housing enclosing a fan, said housinghaving inlet and outlet ports for flow of air through said housing uponoperation of said fan; a nozzle carried by said housing to deliver aflow of air therefrom in a given direction; wherein said nozzle has abase carried on said housing in communication with and surrounding saidoutlet port, said nozzle being rotatable relative to said housing aboutan axis, said nozzle being oriented at an acute angle relative to saidaxis such that rotation of said nozzle about said axis is effective toadjust said given direction through a conical path.
 2. An air blower asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said nozzle tapers in cross section from saidbase towards an outlet end of said nozzle.
 3. An air blower as claimedin claim 2 wherein said nozzle is generally of oblique frusto-conicalform.
 4. An air blower as claimed in claim 1 wherein said nozzle ismounted on said housing by means of an annular bearing that surroundssaid outlet port.
 5. An air blower as claimed in claim 4 wherein saidnozzle base is engaged by a drive element that is operative to effectrotational adjustment of said nozzle.
 6. An air blower as claimed inclaim 5 wherein said drive element is an endless flexible belt whichloops around said nozzle base and a motor-driven pulley.
 7. An airblower nozzle comprising: a hollow tubular body having a predeterminedlength and including an open base end providing an inlet and an oppositeopen end providing an outlet, said base end defining a circular profilethat lies in a plane extending at an acute angle with respect to thelength of the tubular member, said circular profile providing forrotatable mounting of the nozzle on an air blower.
 8. An air blowercomprising: a housing that encloses a power driven fan, said housingincluding an air inlet port and an air outlet port, in combination witha nozzle as claimed in claim 7, said nozzle being carried on a rotatablemounting in said housing by said circular base profile with the openbase in communication with said air outlet port, air delivered by saidfan being blown through the opposite end of the nozzle in apredetermined direction in accordance with the orientation of saidnozzle with respect to the housing outlet port; said air blower furtherincluding drive means to effect changes in orientation of said nozzle.9. An air blower as claimed in claim 8 wherein said drive means is apowered drive element that is selectively operable to angularly changethe position of said nozzle about said rotatable mounting.
 10. A vehiclecar wash installation wherein successive vehicles are movedlongitudinally with respect to washing and drying equipment, saidinstallation comprising a frame carrying at least one air blower as setforth in claim 1, the air blower being positioned such that said flow ofair can be directed onto a vehicle passing through said installation.11. A car wash installation as claimed in claim 10 wherein at least onesaid air blower is attached to a drive element that is controllable toeffect driving rotation of said nozzle and hence adjustment of said flowdirection.
 12. A car wash installation as claimed in claim 11 includingat least one air blower that is adapted to be positioned in anorientation to provide a flow of air in a constant direction.
 13. A carwash installation as claimed in claim 11 wherein said frame is an archframe extending upwardly at each side and horizontally across the top ofa vehicle drying location, said frame including a plurality of said airblowers.
 14. A car wash installation as claimed in claim 13 wherein saidarch frame is adapted for mounting in a fixed location in saidinstallation.
 15. A car wash installation as claimed in claim 10, saidinstallation including sensors to detect at least one of: approach of avehicle towards said frame; departure of a vehicle from said frame; thelocation of a wheel of a vehicle; and the location of a selected surfaceof said vehicle; said installation further including a control system,each said sensor being operatively coupled to deliver data to saidcontrol system; said control system in turn being coupled to said atleast one blower to vary the air flow delivered by said blower inaccordance with the data received from said at least one sensor.
 16. Anair blower as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fan is a radial flowimpeller mounted to rotate within said housing, said housing including atubular mesh screen securely anchored therein and surrounding saidimpeller, said mesh screen being of heavy gauge expanded metalconstruction.